As an end-of-year special, this week is productivity week on the podcast. 

With so much going on and so many competing pressures, I know that everyone listening will, at least at some point in 2022, have had challenges with focus and information overload. Talent Acquisition is evolving quickly, and managing attention and processing information are vital skills that aren't highlighted as much as they should be.

A couple of days ago, in Episode 486, we looked at managing information overload when I spoke to Tiago Forte, the inventor of the Building a Second Brain system of personal knowledge management. 

In this episode, I want to focus on focus, and my guest is author and speaker Erik Qualman. In 2009 Erik wrote a hugely influential book predicting the rise of social media called Socianomics, and since then has written extensively on digital leadership. His most recent book is The Focus Project which highlights the problems humans have focusing in our hyper-connected world and explores some of the potential solutions that can help us.

In the interview, we discuss:

The Focus Project

Focusing on the big, not the busy

Focus is hard in an unfocused world.

The importance of systems and process

Progress not perfection

Saying no a lot


Having more time is not the solution.

Attacking the one big thing before the day attacks you


The power of sleep

Spotting patterns, time fencing and the 20/20/20 rule

How can employers support focus?

What does the future of work now look like


Listen to this podcast in Apple Podcasts.